


Dare You to Move (Move Me)

by Lunaris_Chrysalis



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Damerey Renaissance, Damerey Resistance, Damerey Week, F/M, I know, I tried ¯|_(ツ)_|¯, Modern AU, Moves like Jagger? More like Moves like Magic Mike amirite, Other, Poe is a demisexual dancer and Rey is the lucky recipient of a special performance, the fic no one asked for but me so the responsibility to put it into words fell on me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-12-21 14:41:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21076565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunaris_Chrysalis/pseuds/Lunaris_Chrysalis
Summary: Poe knows he owes his friend Finn big time, and losing a bet just adds up to it. So when Finn asks a favor—dares Poe, rather—to give his childhood BFF, who’ll be visiting in a few weeks’ time, a sexy lap dance for a belated birthday gag gift, Poe finds himself unable to back off.[Damerey Week Day 5: "I Know"/Modern AU]





	Dare You to Move (Move Me)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gloriouswhisperstyphoon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gloriouswhisperstyphoon/gifts).

> Do you know how hard it is to write a dance fic as a dancer? Like, how do you translate dance into words instead of your body coz damn. I felt like I was doing a choreography while writing this. Not sure if people will enjoy reading this, but I had so much fun writing this! LoLXD
> 
> This is supposed to be for @gloriouswhisperstyphoon, but it fit a day in Damerey Week so I held off on posting this 7k trash. Gurl, don't judge me I just wanted to have fun and I did with writing this hahahahaXD And did I mention how I thoroughly enjoyed all research I made for this fic. XD XD XD
> 
> I suggest watching this short 4-min clip before reading so you can visualize better hahahaXD  
[Learn These 6 Sexy Masculine Dance Moves from a Magic Mike Live Dancer! (Try NOW)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZP92ZA3zydI)

“Are you serious right now?”

Finn shrugged. “Yes, I am. Besides, you owe me. Major. Several times. And you did say I could call in a favor, no matter what it is. And you did lose the bet, so I’m coming to collect.”

Poe groaned as he tugged on his curls in frustration. Yes, he definitely owed Finn for being the default and on-call dogsitter for his furboi when Poe had to be away on fieldwork or any other business trip. That, and the bet they made on the football championship. Poe was arrogant enough to declare the privileges of the wager’s winner, which is that they could make the loser do whatever they wanted (which was kinda lame and infantile, in hindsight. What was he, seven years old? Ugh). What Poe had in mind was for Finn to deep clean the apartment and the car, honestly. Or provide BB, his corgi, his bath for a month or two, so confident was he that he would be the victor. But as if he was starring in his own Greek tragedy, hubris was his downfall and now he had to wallow in the circumstances he had set in place.

“Look, man, I’m not doing this to humiliate you. This is for a friend. And not just any friend of mine, but my closest and longest and dearest friend, like I can honestly claim she’s the first ever friend I made in my life and my earliest memory is with her. Please do this for me and I swear to you, I will never ask for anything from you ever and you get a lifetime coupon of my dogsitting services. C’mon. Help me, please?”

Upon further explanation from Finn, the childhood bestfriends had an ongoing birthday tradition to outdo themselves by giving each other outrageous, crazy, hilarious, weird gifts. On Finn’s last birthday, he’d gotten a wooden ashtray with a decorative life-sized and realistic-looking phallus carved on its side, a trinket picked up from a trip. Rose had the abomination on display at their apartment because she got a kick out of everyone who reacted to seeing it. And Rose swears her favorite dick pic of her boyfriend is that snap she has of her poking the tip of the wooden penis on his cheek, his face scrunched up in a not-so-amused way. 

(Finn found himself the victim of hacking from time to time, when he was careless enough to leave his laptop or phone unsupervised with Rose. He’d end up groaning every time Rose managed to change his phone lock and home screen or the wallpaper background of his laptop with that damn picture of his mortified face with a wooden penis pressed to his cheek. Each time Rose cackled at her successful scheme strengthened Finn’s resolve to get back at his bestfriend.)

And now, said closest buddy, Rey, was vacationing for two weeks in Coruscant, two weeks after her birthday (Finn’s requested leave wasn’t approved due to the unfortunate timing of a project’s deliverables), to visit her bestie and his girlfriend. This was Finn’s chance, and he knew if he could just get Poe to do this, hands down he wins. It was gonna take some out-of-this-world innovation for Rey to top this scheme.

That was three months away.

“You’ll never let me live it down, will you?”

“You got a God-given talent to go with your hotness. Utilize it.” Finn patted his prettyface friend’s cheek in a patronizing way, which got him a glare in return before Poe swatted at the hand.

_Finn actually stumbled on Poe’s “secret past” accidentally on Youtube. Rose had been gushing about Magic Mike (she’d gone to see the movie several times with her gal pals in the theater), and Finn planned to surprise her on her upcoming birthday with a little performance. What better place for a tutorial on how to groove like Magic Mike than on Youtube? And he did find a good little video about how to learn a few basic sexy dance moves he could pull off so he didn’t need to pay for classes._

_Finn’s eyes had widened and he couldn’t help shrieking when he rewound the video several times, pausing, and finally confirming that it was indeed his friend, looking very much younger (he’s that buff, even now) but still ridiculously handsome. Of course, the unholy screeches led to Rose appearing in a worry, and Finn, making indecipherable noises, just pointed at his phone. With eyebrows scrunched in confusion, Rose approached her boyfriend warily as she took the phone from him to see what exactly had him in a doozy. It took several minutes and furious blinking before the she realized who exactly she was seeing on the paused video, finally dawning on her just what caused her boyfriend’s uncharacteristic flailing._

_“Is this… am I looking at…”_

_Finn nodded furiously. “Babe, I think so. That’s Poe, right? My eyes aren’t wrong, right? That’s Poe _right there._ Tell me if my eyes are deceiving me.”_

_Rose’s mouth formed an ‘o’ as an evil cackle escaped her and she clicked again to the beginning of the twelve-minute video, sidling up next to Finn who was also watching as intently as her. They even flashed the video on their 50-inch smart TV, the video set to the highest resolution available. Sure enough, a young Poe Dameron (probably in his early 20s) was in several shots, shown to be sexy dancing with a bevy of shirtless macho men as they synchronously executed the dolphin dive move on stage (they both gave a loud, impressed woot at that!). It couldn’t be denied: that was their mutual friend alright. The camera had featured him in close-ups for a few times in snippets of performances which was screenshot and filed for evidence._

_When Finn confronted Poe with the video, he came out clean, blushing and blubbering. He’d been discovered in a dance choreography class he was taking during the summer before he was to go off for college. Muran, one of his classmates at the dance class, had approached him and struck a friendly conversation before giving him an invite if he was interested in a job that paid good money for his passion. Poe thought it was hilarious and didn’t take the offer seriously, but Muran didn’t stop trying to cajole him into at least auditioning. One day, Poe decided to indulge his friend and ended up trying out, which led to him being accepted and welcomed by the show coordinator and producer, Amilyn Holdo. The pay was surprisingly really good, so Poe locked down a steady, well-paying racket for all his college summers that really helped him build savings. In fact, that was his job right after graduation while he was looking for employment that was more in line with his degree._

_Finn’s eyes were up to his hairline after Poe shared his unknown and unlisted job experience as a dancer. “Well, damn.” He huffed a laugh. “I’m impressed.”_

_Poe rolled his eyes jokingly. “Thanks for the stamp of approval.”_

_“So, uh…” Finn coughed awkwardly as his eyes darted around, trying to see if anyone was close by enough to hear them. There were none, so he trudged on with his original intent of approaching Poe. “Can you teach me some moves?”_

_Now it was Poe’s turn to raise his eyebrows._

_Before the other could even say a word, Finn interjected his explanation in one breath. “I came across your video because I wanted to surprise Rose with a little sexy dance number for our anniversary so I searched for Youtube tutorials.”_

_“… Kriffing hells.”_

“So, will you do it?” Finn cajoled, smiling sheepishly and hopefully.

Shaking his head, Poe glared at his friend. “You do know I was only part of the group act, okay, I never gave any of those special solo performances!”

“You’d probably have no problem with a little bit of practice.”

Poe groaned as he stared to the heavens for mercy. “Our friendship is being tested right now.”

Finn took this as a sign that he still could sway him; the man wasn’t declaring rejection outright.

**

In the end, Poe accepted the challenge/dare/favor. Short of kneeling on sea salt while balancing books on his outstretched forearms, Finn groveled for a week and eventually sweetened the pot by adding housecleaning services for Poe’s apartment every month for the whole year, pet grooming included. Any form of hesitation quickly dissipated like dry ice.

“But I’m keeping my pants on,” Was Poe’s only stipulation.

Currently, Poe was searching through his song lists and RnB and HipHop charts for a good song. He’d considered Ginuwine’s _Pony_; some of Bruno Mars’ songs like _That’s What I Like_ were also contenders.

“How about _Please Me_?” Finn suggested as he waggled his eyebrows. “It’s got a great beat, I think it’s sexy. Can’t go wrong with Bruno Mars. _Please me, baby, turn around and just tease me, baby…_” Finn sang the chorus, bouncing his shoulders up and down.

It did have a good beat, nice and slow too, but Poe wanted the vibes for a sexy, enticing dance rather than a stripper tease, the impression he was desperately trying to avoid imparting, and that line was thin. “I was thinking the theme could be more like me trying to woo her, court her through the dance, you know? Kinda like sexy and romantic? I really don’t want to give her the impression that I moonlighted in the past as a male escort because I didn’t.”

Finn gave it some thought. “Alright, swear to me you will never mention this ever again after this. Swear to me, Poe,” Finn made him promise before pulling out his phone, and handed it over to his friend. 

Poe looked at the list of songs on the music player that Finn had open on his screen. Jay Sean featuring Tyga, _Sex 101_, Usher, _Hey Daddy_, Qwote, _Shawty It’s Your Booty_, Ciara featuring Justin Timberlake, _Love, Sex and Magic_, Ciara, _Body Party_ and _Dance Like We’re Making Love_, Chris Brown featuring Kevin McCall, _Strip_, another Chris Brown track, _Sex_—

“I’ll let you look over the babymaking playlist. Maybe you can find a good song there for your performance.”

“The _what_?” 

Leaning in close to share a secret, Finn spoke conspiratorially in a low tone. “Me and Rose, yeah? We have songs that get us in the mood and from time to time, we run this playlist for some ambience when we get it on—“

“Put it away, put it away, I _do not_ want to know! Kriff, Finn!”

Finn only rolled his eyes. From Poe’s (over) reaction, one would think he’d handed the oblivious man a used condom. “I’m just trying to help with the creative process!”

**

“So you prefer something kinda slow, sweet, am I getting this right?” Rose asked over dinner at her and Finn’s home that the couple had just moved into last month.

Swallowing a forkful of pesto, Poe nodded noncommittally.

Rose tapped the table knowingly. “I have _just_ the song for you. _Aquaman_ by Jay Park.”

Finn snapped his fingers and pointed to his girlfriend. “Yes! Yes, babe, yes! How did I not think of that!” 

The song title was kinda weird, how was a song named after a DC superhero supposed to be sensual? Sounds nerdy enough as it is. “Okay…” Poe’s tone had a question mark dangling at the end.

“Let me play it for you,” Rose excitedly whipped out her phone, scrolled through her music library and hit play.

The track was good, Poe admitted. 

_Let me call you mama_  
_Cause we about to make a baby_  
_And before I go put it in_  
_I'll go underwater girl just like a fish_  
_And the way I stay down there_  
_You gon' think I'm Aquaman _

_ _ __ _ _

And he almost choked on his red wine as he finally learned the meaning of the song title. 

“What every girl wants to hear!” Finn commented halfway through. “You want a great message, this is it!”

Poe’s eyes narrowed as he mulled over Finn’s statement. That message was not what he had in mind.

“Besides your dance, I _guarantee_ you’ll blow her mind with this track!” Rose began slowly grooving to the music, Finn also doing his own thing beside her, showing just how much they both appreciated the song.

Poe highly suspected this song as one of numerous songs including in the babymaking playlist. His head hurt.

Although in all fairness, he was going to download the track later to add to his song collection, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to use it for this dance number, so he just shrugged noncommittally.

The couple looked thoughtful for a moment before Finn piped up, throwing another suggestion. “You can always just use _Booty Music_. It’s got a birthday theme.”

_“Go Leo!”_ Rose chanted a portion of the lyrics.

_“It’s your birthday!”_ Finn continued the next line.

_“Go Virgo!”_

_“It’s your birthday!”_

_“Go Pisces!”_

_“It’s your birthday!”_

_“Making love to booty music,”_ Rose and Finn crooned together, their body roll even synchronizing, however awkward they moved. A squirming worm doused in salt had more sexy finesse than those two did.

Now Poe was just looking at his two friends like he was just frickin’ _done_. “How about something not too… overtly sexual?”

And definitely not a song Finn had used to actually give a sex show to his girlfriend, thank you very much.

**

So one week into taking up Finn’s favor, the only progress Poe had made was to create a playlist with a few songs that he thought might be a good fit. 

Ne-yo’s _Sexy Love_. Really nice groove.

Usher’s _Good Kisser_. Pretty good contender.

Mario’s _Let Me Love You_. Nice, old school jam.

Maybe Trey Songz’ _Slow Motion? _

Two weeks into shamefully accepting the task, he wasn’t locking into a final song choice. Desperation definitely had him considering lifting his ban on using sexual songs.

Thankfully, Rose unknowingly handed him the solution.

“Would it help if you knew what Rey looked like?” Rose was already pulling up her phone for a picture of her boyfriend’s bestie. It took only a few seconds before she shoved a picture of the fabled friend in Poe’s face.

Well, damn. The visual certainly helped.

He’d just found his muse. (_Client? Recipient? _ Might probably be more appropriate, but semantics!)

At this point, Poe had only ever heard of this Rey. Finn had even gone on to say that he knew Rose was The One for him because out of all his exes, she had been the only one to not be threatened by his solid friendship with Rey. In fact, the two women got along so well, that Rey had gone on the record that if ever Rose and Finn broke up, he can go find himself a new bestfriend. That was how tight Rose and Rey were. He’d heard so many stories about her, but he never knew what she looked like and had never met her.

She was a stunner. In the pictures, her smiles were genuine as she looked straight at the camera, fresh-faced and eyes bright with happiness. Her photos (at least, the ones in Rose’s gallery) showed her with quirky expressions and in wacky poses for the cam, looking totally chummy with both Rose and Finn. 

“She’s single, by the way,” Rose teasingly commented randomly, breaking Poe’s staring but inducing his blushing.

Poe groaned. “An actual stripper would be much more agreeable and more reliable to deliver, you know.”

“Still. We prefer your performance,” Rose answered cheekily.

**

Poe had to admit though, this challenge reconnected him to dancing. He still kept up at the gym, making sure to keep himself fit, but it had been so long since he seriously took the time to brush up on dancing, even if it was just freestyle. He was enjoying this creative venture.

And one other motivation was that he couldn’t get Rey out of his mind. Though he could blame it solely on Rose. Without any shame, she would randomly send him a few pictures of her friend (he’d even get one in the middle of a totally unrelated chat), which he couldn’t help but peek at from time to time while he practiced.

Deciding to take a quick five-minute water break, Poe retrieved a small towel he left hanging nearby and grabbed his bottle of water with infused lemon slices. His checked his phone, and upon seeing a message notification from Rose, quickly checked his inbox.

Rose had sent him another picture of Rey, along with a reminder of how many days away they were to her arrival and his performance. Rose and Finn had taken to messaging him a countdown to his “comeback” attached with more photos of Rey.

Shaking his head, Poe plopped down next to his pet pooch who was just lounging around on the floor, watching his owner dance away the Sunday afternoon. “Isn’t she beautiful?” Poe held out his phone to show the photo to BB, who barked in agreement. Despite being sweaty with his curls a mess, Poe snapped a quick selfie with BB to send as a reply to Rose (in the middle of practice! was the accompanying comment). He chuckled to himself as he locked the phone and got back on his feet, thinking of milk chocolate brown eyes and a bright smile.

It had been a while since his last relationship, and frankly (incomprehensible to most) he doesn’t pursue hook-ups or one-night stands; it just wasn’t something he was comfortable with. He’d had no reason to be involved romantically for a while (he just wasn’t developing feelings for anyone right now), enjoying his free time with himself without worrying about anyone else (except for his dad and his dog).

In fact this state of being single and available yet not being involved with anyone at all was what had churned the rumor mill about him in the office. Especially when he became fast friends with Finn and Rose. He’d been suspected of being a third participant in that relationship (Rose’s sister was known to be in a polyamorous relationship with two women so people somehow got the idea that Rose was also into having multiple partners at the same time). A good-looking guy who insists on being single and is tight with a couple certainly got people speculating despite the official statement that Poe was just really close friends with Finn and Rose.

It was annoying how people wouldn’t believe that someone who could just as easily pick up men and women, would prefer to be single. And they couldn’t believe he was content with it, despite not indulging in the instant hook-up-no-strings-attached culture nowadays to fill up an imaginary emptiness from not being preoccupied with a romantic relationship.

No one really believed him nor respected his decision. They just assumed he was bullshitting because despite his looks, he wasn’t touting the typical f-boi values (honestly, he takes offense in this, his promiscuity being graded based on his looks?). Well, except Finn and Rose. Was there any wonder why he liked hanging out with them?

But the fact is, he just doesn’t want to. He doesn’t do sex without the emotional connection and security of a relationship, and he hasn’t found someone yet who he wants to be with, simple as that.

But maybe that’s about to change… Poe’s not one to just have feelings based on a picture, and even more unlikely that he’ll choose to date someone he’s never met (he’s never been into blind dating, he prefers a connection to develop gradually, eventually, organically, without the pressure of expecting something romantic to come out of their interaction) but from Rose’s latest visual offering of Rey looking straight at the camera, hair up in three haphazard buns, head tilted to the side as she rested her cheek on a palm, lips playfully pursed as she fought back a grin had his stomach in knots and flutters and he can’t help but smile back at each picture he received.

Damn, she was cute. But more than that, Poe had heard so much about her from their two mutual friends. Finn and Rose liked to gush about her, and Rey did seem like the type of person he’d be friends with at least. No expectations of anything more; he found her attractive, but that didn’t mean he wanted to be in a relationship with her. 

Poe was definitely looking forward to meeting her. Here’s to hoping she wouldn’t find him off-putting after this stunt.

**

In the middle of the afternoon at work, Poe was working on a report due in three days when Finn casually dropped by Poe’s work area. “Hey man, do you remember the name of the resto bar nearby? What’s it called again?”

“Uhh… Takodana?”

Finn snapped his fingers. “That’s the one owned by that little old lady, right?” He then plucked his phone from his pocket and began typing, continuing his conversation with Poe even though his eyes were glued to his screen.

“Maz. Yep.”

Though Poe never did hang out in that joint, but he did regularly stop over to order food for takeaway while chatting up with the witty and wise Maz Kanata, owner and bartender. He didn’t like spending time at bars because getting hit on or receiving indecent proposals were inevitable in those places, and once when a drunk admirer actually tried to accost him outside the bathroom, well, she scared him enough for him to promptly avoid going to clubs and similar establishments, not that he frequented those anyway; he was more of a stay-at-home-for-fun kind of person, so the fact that he was even willing to step into Maz’s place repeatedly was a high compliment in itself.

(Finn had laughed in amusement when Poe recalled to them what he’d experienced, but a glare from Rose had her boyfriend shutting down from his humor. He apologized to Poe after Rose explained that harassment was never funny nor was it ever to be made fun of, even with the genders reversed.)

“Rey’s so weird sometimes, I swear even though I’ve known her my whole life. She just randomly asked if Rose and I would like to eat at Takodana later. Why is she trying to tell us where to eat dinner I’m not even asking. And she’s not even in the same country.”

Poe shrugged. “If it’s any value, Maz does have great food. You won’t regret having dinner there if you don’t have plans for tonight yet.”

Finn glanced up from his cellphone. “So I hear. Whenever Rey comes to visit, she always has to drop by at least once at that place.”

“She has good taste,” Poe chuckled. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say we’d get along pretty well.”

“That’s more likely than you think.” Finn fixed him a strange but thoughtful look, though it flashed just for a second before it was gone. “Alright man, catch you later,” Clapping Poe’s shoulder, Finn slowly walked away backwards while lingering in the conversation with his friend and colleague. “I gotta talk to Ackbar about tomorrow’s meeting. Kriff.”

Poe sent him a two-fingered salute for luck, because Finn was gonna need it. “Don’t worry, he’s not as bad as your previous boss,” Poe reminded as a way of sending his support. Finn had ranted at length about how toxic his previous boss, Phasma, had been, and despite how intimidating and strict Ackbar came off, he was still a decent division head.

For a while, Poe was left in peace to concentrate with his task at hand when Snap dropped by, softly knocking on the open door to catch Poe’s attention.

“Hey, someone’s here looking for your buddy-in-crime. Can you go handle it? I gotta finish these documents and I don’t know where Finn is.”

Poe looked up from his desktop and nodded to his passing coworker who rushed off in a hurry after getting a confirmation. 

Upon entering the lobby, he stopped dead in his tracks as his eyes widened and his breath caught in his throat. He took the time to check his features in a nearby glass door, running his hands through his hair as he tried to calm his thumping heart and racing nerves. One deep inhale, and he turned around to approach Finn’s guest.

“Hi.” At least his voice didn’t squeak so he mentally gave himself a congratulatory pat on the back.

“Hi.”

“I’m Poe.” He held out his hand, which she accepted.

She smiled. “I’m Rey.”

“I know.”

She tilted her head quizzically at him, though her smile didn’t dim. “You do?”

“Yeah, uh, Finn’s told me about you. Rose too.” Okay, now Poe wanted to give himself a kick, and hoping Rey didn’t find him creepy.

“Well, to tell you the truth, I recognize you too. I’ve also heard quite a bit about a Poe Dameron from Finn and Rose.”

Poe chuckled embarrassingly (she knew his last name?), his hand lifting to rub the back of his neck. “Good things, I hope.”

“Rest assured, I heard good feedback about your person,” she replied cheekily, making Poe blush with the flattery. 

**

When Poe picked up Finn’s call later that night, his voice was suspiciously deadbeat serious. _“My man, change of plans. Are you ready with your number tomorrow tonight?”_

“I thought that was slated for next week Friday?” Poe replied with a slightly hysteric edge to his voice.

_“Well, as you know, the timeline’s been moved up. I wasn’t expecting Rey to arrive a week early to surprise us! Please don’t get cold feet.” _

Kriff. Poe’s nerves shot from low to over his head in just a few seconds. He took a moment and a deep breath. “Finn? Get rid of your carpet and make sure your living room floor is waxed and clean.”

A loud whoop was the follow-up on the other end of the line. _“It’s on, babe!”_ Finn could be distantly heard proclaiming gleefully to his girlfriend.

**

Poe rang the doorbell, trying not to let his jitters get the best of him so he’d turn tail and make a run for it at the last minute. In a few seconds, the door opened to Finn.

“My man, you are just in time!” Finn’s voice was in a whisper, but it did not hide his excitement as he led Poe into the unoccupied guest bedroom.

“I need a minute to prepare myself.”

“Ok cool, gotta stretch so you don’t get cramps, ok I got you. Be back in a few.” With that bit of support, Finn left Poe on his own to do his thing.

**

Poe was done with rolling his ankles, the last bit of his stretches, and was just jumping up and down to stave off the nerves to try to convert that excess energy into hype when the door opened, startling him from his warm-up.

“Damn!” Finn exclaimed under his breath. His expression was either one of admiration or insult. Must be the former, because Finn looked him up and down once more before going, “Dude, you’re _hot_! Like hot _damn_ hot!” He let out a whistle for good measure.

For tonight’s show, Poe decided that he would wear a simple black suit jacket with the sleeves rolled until just before it reached his elbows, black stretchable jeans, and polished white sneakers. He had a grey fedora on top of his curls, but he was going to throw it away at the start as part of his routine. He was supposed to wear a white v-neck cotton shirt underneath his jacket, but on a bold last minute move, decided to just do away with it. His shirt was folded neatly on the bed with his keys and wallet on top of it.

Shaking his head, Poe glossed over the compliment, too nervous to really think about anything beyond. Feeling too self-conscious about how he looked was the last thing he wanted to get fixated on when he had to get his head in performance mode. “You got the music, right?”

“Yeah, I’m about to announce you, yada-yada. Then Rose gets a signal from me and she hits play. We bought this awesome sound bar speaker last week to go with our TV so you’re really gonna be feeling the beat.” A pause. “You know, it’d look better if you oil up those sweet, firm muscles, because I got baby oil in our room—“

“Oh for kriff’s sake just get in there—“ Exasperatedly, Poe turned Finn around and pushed him away, propelling him in the direction of the living room. Poe was going to stick to the notion that Finn had baby oil in his room for cleaning his belly button (and nothing else!).

“Alright, alright, I was just trying to help, yeesh,” With raised hands, Finn let himself to be herded ahead with Poe pushing him forward from behind.

When they neared the archway to the living room which had sounds of chattering coming from it, Finn eventually twirled around, resting his hands on his smoking dancer friend’s broad shoulders and slowly kneading them in an attempt to infuse confidence as well as show support. “Alright, you got this. I’m gonna head in there first, you’ll hear me loud and clear, and then you do your thing.”

“I’m ready,” Poe let out a whoosh of breath to expel more of the building nervousness.

“Sweet!” Finn gave a fistpump to show his support and anticipation of Poe’s performance before disappearing into the living room. True enough, Poe could hear him calling everyone’s attention. Finn had a short and touching message to his bestfriend, Rey, who was then told to take a seat in the chair Finn pulled up and strategically placed in the middle of the room.

“Hit it, Rosie!”

With a hand in his pocket, Poe inhaled deeply as he assumed his dance persona before making his entrance.

**

When the music started with Justin Timberlake counting down 2, 3, Poe knew it was his cue to make his presence known, and the confident, alluring persona that he built up took over as he stepped forward in time with the plucking of the guitar before doing a slow, sensual body roll and then he threw off his fedora to let it fly somewhere in a corner of the room at the beat that sounded like a snap of the fingers.

His suave entrance must have made a pretty damn good impression, because the hoots and whistles were overblown, given that there were only six people in the living room. Heck, Finn’s expression was absolutely baffled, as he let out a long _damn_ while Rose was lightly smacking her boyfriend’s bicep in her excitement as she shrieked.

At a certain count, he slid on his knees to cross the rest of the distance between him and Rey (thank God for the kneepads he’s wearing that was unnoticeable with his slacks). With a flourish that’s in time with the music, he took off his suit jacket halfway, caught by the crooks of his elbows, to reveal his chest and abs, highlighting his firm muscles with slow body rolls he’s able to pull off even with his upper body slightly tilted backwards as he’s on his knees. The small audience is shrieking as Poe makes eye contact with Rey, whose jaw is open and wearing a flabbergasted face in a very, very apparent shade of red. For effect, Poe stuck out his tongue to sensuously lick his lips, ending in a bite of his lower lip. He can’t help his grin when Rey’s eyes widen while her blush spreads like wildfire across her cheeks and going all the way down her neck.

The isolation he incorporated with the body roll before smoothly repeating the same move earns another round of cheers from the spectators.

He had another set of counts before the lyrics came on. He swiftly switched into a kneeling position for one of the moneymaking moves: the floor hump. A few quick ones, before the last one, he went absolutely slow, exaggerating the way his upper body curved downwards, highlighting his firm derrière which was lifted up in the air before he lowered his hips and raised his upper body. Rey had a hand over her mouth, but no doubt her jaw was hanging open that meant she was very pleased and very impressed. 

Another chorus of delighted shrieks almost drowned out the song.

“Can the living room floor get pregnant?!” Paige’s voice rose above the uproar before dissolving into laughter.

Poe hoped their neighbors didn’t call the police for the noise they were generating.

**

The choreography isn’t about complexity, but more on connection as Poe executed the following steps, keeping his distance but making sure to keep eye contact with Rey, who not once bowed her head in bashfulness, a grin stretched across her face the whole time, displaying her pearly whites. He’d had to remind himself during practice and creating the steps to keep it simple but sensual and classy; this wasn’t a dance competition, but a private performance to entertain his lady (that just so happened to have bystanders). He didn’t falter in his movements, despite his heartbeat quickening, and he knew it didn’t have to do with the physical exertion of dancing but rather from the bright hazel eyes intently watching him.

He got down on one knee. Taking her hands and kissing her knuckles softly, Poe lifted himself up from the floor and stood over her lap, his legs spread apart by the sides of Rey’s thighs. Since Poe was still holding on to Rey’s hands, he then placed them on his waist before gripping the backrest of her chair as an anchor for him. After several more body rolls, this time more pronounced, he then lifted his other leg without breaking the rhythm of the consecutive body rolls, his hands creeping up his chest to hold on to his nape as he balanced on a foot.

Yep, he could hear Finn hollering in the background.

When Poe set his foot down to maneuver into a crouch, hovering above Rey’s lap, hands over her shoulder and gripping the back of her chair once more, he twirled his hips while keeping his torso perfectly still, which gave the simple move a very nice, erotic effect (yep, the audience definitely liked it judging from the racket they were making). However, even with the proximity, he made sure that his crotch did not come in contact with Rey’s chest. Despite no part of their skin nor clothes touching each other, Poe could feel the heat emanating in the inches between their bodies.

Poe kept his eyes to Rey as he circled her, his hand lightly resting on her shoulder, his gaze on her lips looking red and sweet as strawberry. With barely an inch between their noses, Poe could hear Rey’s breath hitch before she bit her lower lip.

That almost made Poe lose count, and it was the change in the music’s pace that reminded him of the next steps. He stopped gyrating his hips and stood. Poe wasn’t sure if he imagined the sigh of disappointment from Rey when he lifted his leg to leave her lap. 

The next was definitely a crowd pleaser. After sauntering around her while his hands ghosted around her shoulders, in a quick, smooth turn, Poe laid his upper body on Rey’s lap. He took her hands, guided it to lay upon his pecs and dragged along his skin, ending the route by leaving her hands by his belly button, as he executed what was called The Babymaker, pumping his hips upwards with his knees rounding inwards then out. With Poe’s hold on the back of the chair, he was able to secure his position on Rey’s lap and got through the next few counts with relative ease.

When he reached the end of the count for that step, he lifted himself up (his strong core and thighs made that particular move plausible for him).

For the finale, he extended his hand, and she took the offer, which was rewarded with a sweet and quick kiss to her knuckles. Lifting her up to her feet, Poe turned her, never letting go of her hand as he pressed her against his front, his free arm coming around her waist as they swayed to the song. Rey’s head was turned to her side, as if trying to keep him in her sight, but Poe had his face pressed to the nook of her neck, before he eventually lifted his head, his lips oh so close to her cheek and temple. They looked like a couple on a dance floor. Poe couldn’t see her expression from his position, but he felt her hand gently graze the length of his forearm wrapped around her waist.

_My pretty lady_  
_You'll always be my baby, baby, baby_  
_It's so amazing_  
_How you became my baby, baby, baby_  
_My little daisy_  
_Come here and let me rock you like a baby, baby, baby_  
_Pretty lady_

_ _ __ _ _

_ _ __ _ _

This time, he twirled her around in his arms while deftly managing to get her arms to go around his neck, the proximity prompting their foreheads to touch. Slowly and lightly, he ran his fingers along the sides of her body before settling his hands on her waist, keeping her close to him as they rocked from side to side.

_Don't you know, you'll always be my baby, baby, baby…_

The music faded, and they were left in the middle of the living room.

Despite the sheen of sweat coating him and being shirtless, Poe bashfully grinned at her. “Hi.”

“Hi,” she replied breathlessly and still flushed.

For no other reason than he did not know how to proceed further, he just decided to reintroduce himself as an icebreaker. “I’m Poe.”

She let out a laugh, but played along. “I’m Rey.” She managed to return a smile despite the bewildered look in her eyes.

“I know.”

Finn crashed into his friends, bursting the cocoon they’d unknowingly been wrapped in as their common friend laid his arms around their shoulders. “What up, Rey, huh? What. Up! I got you there! You can’t top that. You. Can’t. Top. That. No way.” Obnoxiously gloating, Finn took a step back, lifting his arms up in the air in victory. “Boo-yah!” He proclaimed before turning around to join the others who were definitely causing a ruckus with their laughs and comments.

While Finn was guffawing with the rest, Poe and Rey went back to staring at each other. Somehow, they were now completely sidelined despite being the center and source of the entertainment earlier.

Poe cleared his throat as his hand came up to rub his nape, head tilted to the side as he tried to tamp his embarrassment. “So, I guess I should go and… make myself presentable.”

Unbidden, Rey’s eyes drifted down to Poe’s bare chest, and even going lower... her face flushed as she knew she just had the privilege of running her hands down that finely chiseled landscape... She cleared her throat and lightly shook her head as she kept her line of sight above the neck. “Oh, ok. Don’t let me stop you. Uhm, you’ll be coming back and… joining us, right? There’s still, uhm, a lot of food and drinks. If you want. Like pizza.” Rey managed to croak. The heat from that performance was really getting to her head and dissipating whatever poise she possessed. “I mean, you must’ve had a workout with that, uhm, earlier. You’re sweating. You probably need to hydrate!” 

Gah, Rey chided herself mentally. Even her internal voice had turned to incomprehensible garble. Really, she was humiliating herself at this point.

**

After wrapping up the memorable first part of the evening, Poe and Rey easily hit it off as they just laughed off the dance and took the ribbing from their friends like a good sport. 

“I honestly thought you were going to bring out a penis cake with penis lollipops!” Rey screeched in between her wheezing from laughter.

“Really, Finn? You couldn’t have thought of that instead?” Poe groaned as he brought a hand to cover his face while good-naturedly laughing as well.

Besides the shared embarrassment, Poe and Rey discovered that they were avid fans of Formula One, both of them even rooting for the same team and conversation flowed smoothly and enthusiastically after that.

“I am a single dad of one corgi.” Poe declared unashamedly with a shrug. This Rey already knew from Finn and Rose, but his declaration still caused her to crack up loudly as she demanded to see pictures, which he was all too eager to share like a proud parent. His gallery consisted about 80% vids and pics of his baby boy, BB the corgi. Turns out, Rey’s dream pet is a corgi and she’d been planning on adopting one in the near future. This led to plans for dinner and a meet-up with the adorable pooch along with a promised walk. Rey even offered her services as a dogsitter and a dogwalker if ever he needed one, and free of charge at that. Apparently she was gonna be around for quite a while since she was taking up her PhD in the city in the coming fall semester, another surprise announcement she had for Finn and Rose, and another reason for her coming for a visit. 

“You two haven’t even gone on a proper first date yet, and you’re gonna introduce her to your son already?” Fin’s eyes playfully narrowed at Poe as he made his way to the two.

Rey pushed her bestfriend playfully. “You’re just salty because BB didn’t like you at first meeting, while he’s going to _love_ me.”

“The little mutt tried chewing off my pant leg when I dared to try on Poe’s leather jacket, okay! The hem ripped!”

Poe threw his head back and laughed. “You could’ve asked permission first, I would have said yes.”

“Ooh, let me walk Bee someday, please!” Rey prettily batted her eyes towards Poe.

“How does tomorrow—”

“Yes!” Rey agreed too quickly. “Yes, yes, yes!”

Finn turned to grin at Rose across the room, Poe and Rey oblivious as they enthusiastically made plans to walk the corgi the very next day and a coffee date got thrown in the mix.

**

By the end of the night (or the early morning), Paige, Tallie, and Jess soon said their goodbyes to everyone. Not long after that, the two newly acquainted (finally!) decided to head out too. Poe had taken Rey back to her hotel, saving Finn and Rose from having to drive the guest of honor back to her accommodation for the whole week. The hotel happened to be on his way home anyway. Rey looked all too happy to accept Poe’s kind gesture.

Once the house was cleared of guests, Finn finally let out what he’d been holding back the entire night.

“Babe, I can’t believe your plan worked out! Holy kriff!”

“What can I say, I’m fucking brilliant!” Rose gloated, even jumping on her feet in glee at the connivance that brought about tonight’s entertainment (and potential future romance).

Finn and Rose had been trying for ages to get Poe and Rey to meet, but as always, the two were elusive and either unavailable or never made it whenever planned outings or blind dates had been set. It was Rose’s throwaway comment about Poe dancing for Rey that made the clever woman snap her fingers and decide to make her vision come into fruition, and with great success.

“After getting treated like that, I don’t know how Rey won’t be all over him later down the line,” Finn chuckled. “I’m in a relationship, but I can I see the merit in dating Poe Dameron. Poe put the _dayum! _ in Dameron tonight.”

Rose was nodding along, her lips pursed in a smug grin. “See, everything worked out in the end, didn’t it? Everything happens at the right time. The universe has its own timing, with just a little nudge from us.” 

While Rose was giggling and mentally congratulating herself on her matchmaking scheme, smacking her boyfriend’s forearm with the back of her hand to get him to agree, Finn slowly and thoughtfully nodded, his eyes widening as he came to a realization. “Holy kriff, you’re right babe. I mean, Poe just got promoted two months ago, and then Rey is getting her PhD here at Coruscant. The stars have aligned for them. This is the best time for them to meet and to actually be together if they do.”

“Babe, expect to be best man at their wedding.”

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, how did I get prompted to write this? I got on YT on mobile, and a video popped up on my feed: _Learn These 6 Sexy Masculine Dance Moves from a Magic Mike Live Dancer! (Try NOW)_ from STEEZY channel, which I used as a reference for this. As a dancer, I was curious and I was like, I loved the moves on Magic Mike and I wanted to be able to pull that off for bragging rights. So I watched the vid, and I had this fic idea. Actually, I had this Damerey prompt pop up in my head before (and I sent it to someone asking for prompts, I think it was sunburnracing), but it was only after watching the video that I was inspired to actually flesh out this fic. And then I saw the author’s note at the end of a chapter of **Selene Tyler Smith**’s Damerey fic, **Welcome to Your New Life** (Go check it out if you haven’t read it yet) and I felt like the universe was telling me to DO IT!
> 
> Oh, and that ashtray with the phallic décor? Yep, that exists. I don’t own one, but I know it’s sold as souvenirs (and surprisingly, not at a sex shop LoLXD).


End file.
